Why are British farmers pleading for a universal basic income?
Al Jazeera
Brexit spelled the end of EU subsidies, leaving farmers with ‘raw deal’ from the UK government.
A new lobby group in the United Kingdom is calling for a universal basic income (UBI) for all British farmers amid concerns that government funding to primary producers in England, arranged in the wake of the UK’s departure from the European Union in 2020, are not fit for purpose.
Basic Income for Farmers (BI4Farmers) set out their case for UBI in a report which was published last Thursday in association with the left-wing think tank, Autonomy.
In a foreword to its report spelling out the issue, titled “Sowing the seeds of stability: the case for a basic income for farmers, farm workers and food producers in the UK”, BI4Farmers coordinator Joanna Poulton wrote that “livelihoods in agriculture are often precarious”.
“A lack of funded pathways and financial support makes careers in producing food both hard to access and difficult to sustain,” she said.
Poulton said financial insecurity had taken a serious toll on farmers in the UK in terms of physical and mental wellbeing. “Finding ways to support these livelihoods will be critical to building the resilient, sustainable, and just local food systems we need,” she added.
